LAHORE, May 29: Governor Khalid Maqbool admitted on Wednesday faults in the crisis management of the civil defence, giving a week to the authorities concerned to remove them.

He was talking to reporters at the Governor’s House after visiting Samanabad Morr where four people including a young engineer were killed as the projection of a five-storey plaza fell on them during the storm in Lahore on Monday evening.

At Samanabad Morr, the governor talked to people gathered in front of the plaza who narrated the hardships they faced as a result of the storm, including the disruption of water and power supply, and delay in its restoration.

They said there was no ambulance to remove the dead to the hospital and a police squad was reluctant to cooperate. Two young people alleged that the attitude of the Mayo Hospital staff was also not positive and they did not properly handle the bodies.

Many people said the projection of the plaza had jolted during an earthquake some time ago and it was not removed or repaired despite demands by the residents.

The governor asked his staff to write down all the complaints and promised that action would be taken against the owner of the plaza and the hospital staff who had not properly handled the bodies.

He expressed his sympathies with the father of the engineer, Faheem Ahmad, and promised to look after the family and those of the other three who were also killed.

The governor was informed that Faheem was the only brother of three sisters and his father was a poor man.

Mr Khalid Maqbool directed the authorities concerned including Chief Secretary Imtiaz Masrur to conduct mock crisis management rehearsals of civil defence in big cities. The system should be improved within a week, he directed.

Lahore DCO Tariq Shafi Chak informed the governor about the measures taken to clear roads of the fallen trees and to get the power and water supply restored as soon as possible. He claimed that the district government staff was in the streets as soon as the storm-hit the city to start rehabilitation work.

The governor asked him to reorganize all relief measures to meet the coming monsoon season and check as to how action could be taken against those who had built dangerous projections at plazas and buildings.

He directed Parks and Horticulture Authority Director-General Kamran Lashari to formulate a safety related policy for billboards in the city and look into the fixing of mammoth hoardings atop buildings which posed a threat to human life and property.

While replying to questions by reporters at the Governor’s House, he said the civil defence organization in the province had weaknesses which “we will remove.”

“We need to prepare for a war,” he said while replying to a question whether the province was ready for relief measures in case of any eventuality when it took over 24 hours to restore water and power supply disrupted as a result of the storm on Monday evening.

The governor said the civil defence did not mean restoration of water and power alone. It rather contained various emergency affairs like arrangements at hospitals, repairs of bridges and roads and efficient ambulance service. “We are closely looking into all these aspects,” he said.

He said the civil defence system was having problems because of lack of funds. “But we will improve it as this is the basic responsibility of the government to protect its citizens,” he said.

The governor said the country had the courage to meet any eventuality. “We are facing the threat of a war for the past five to six months and but life is still going on,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said the country’s defence was impregnable and the law and order in the province at present was under control.

Earlier, the governor asked the accompanying chief secretary to provide some pecuniary aid to those people in the bordering areas who could not sow their crops due to the war threats by India.

He said he had visited some villages of Sialkot earlier in the day and met people and troops there. Unprovoked Indian shelling had left 21 civilians martyred and 90 injured but still the people were in high spirit and ready to face the enemy along with the troops, he said.

The governor said he had announced Rs100,000 each for the families of those martyred and Rs50,000 each for all those injured as a result of Indian shelling in the bordering villages of Sialkot.

He said Pakistan had always talked of peace but it was ready to defend itself.